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About the author

James Pethokoukis is a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, he was the Washington columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters.

what does this have to do with a President? it says Private employees, that’s private business, not govt. where is the most recent Minimum wage hike the democrats put in place located in this chart? in light of the sad state of the economy that was left us after 8 yrs of GOP Doubling the Debt…who is surprised it takes time to ‘Recover’ fully?

The author makes no mention of the fault of any party. The point he’s trying to make is that there clearly is no recovery in progress. Go ahead and politicize the chart all you want but it clearly shows current efforts are not only not helping, but the economy is in a steady decline. Your comments seem to fit more in the category of, “Don’t confuse me with data, my mind is made up.” People need to open their eyes and think a bit more rather than just go with what their emotions want.

The President is claiming that he created 4.5 million jobs, private sector jobs. G.W. Bush added $4 trillion to the debt in 8 years. Obama $5.6 trillion in less than 4 years. The government doesn’t create private sector jobs. The government’s role is to provide fair regulation so that entrepreneurs can create jobs. Entrepreneurs create jobs, not government. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan know that. Obama can’t comprehend it.

But that $5.6 trillion that happened during Obama’s 4 years is a reaction to the 8 years of the Bush Admin. The economy is reactive, not proactive, but this oversight is very common and made all too often at the current POTUS’ dismay. Politicise it all you like, but at least politicise it correctly.

Presidential Admin. changes also travel faster than the speed of a receding economy (just not fast enough to stop it or slow it down) , otherwise the recession in our current President’s term would have happened in the prior President’s term.

Hmmmm…Didn’t Democrats have the majority in congress in 1994 and in 2004, the two biggest slump periods??

Rene’ – Of course this is not in line with government sector jobs. Private sector wages are what are often sacrifice to give public sector employees pay raises and benefits. Minimum wage hikes actually constrict the economy; they do not expand it. Take an econ class, or pay a bill sometime.